Kyle Andrew Kubitza (born July 15, 1990) is an American former professional

baseball Baseball is a bat-and-ball games, bat-and-ball sport played between two team sport, teams of nine players each, taking turns batting (baseball), batting and Fielding (baseball), fielding. The game occurs over the course of several Pitch ...

third baseman A third baseman, abbreviated 3B, is the player in baseball or softball whose responsibility is to defend the area nearest to third base — the third of four bases a baserunner must touch in succession to score a run. In the Baseball scorekeep ...

. He played in

Major League Baseball Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball league composed of 30 teams, divided equally between the National League (baseball), National League (NL) and the American League (AL), with 29 in the United States and 1 in Canada. MLB i ...

(MLB) for the

Los Angeles Angels The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Greater Los Angeles, Greater Los Angeles area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, ...

Career

Kubitza attended Colleyville Heritage High School in Colleyville, Texas. He played

college baseball College baseball is baseball that is played by Student athlete, student-athletes at institutions of higher education. In the United States, college baseball is sanctioned mainly by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA); in Japan, ...

Texas State University Texas State University (TXST) is a public university, public research university with its main campus in San Marcos, Texas, United States, and another campus in Round Rock, Texas, Round Rock. Since its establishment in 1899, the university has ...

for the Texas State Bobcats. He hit .328 with 27

home runs In baseball, a home run (abbreviated HR) is scored when the ball is hit in such a way that the batter is able to circle the bases and reach home plate safely in one play without any errors being committed by the defensive team. A home run ...

during his career.

Atlanta Braves

The

Atlanta Braves The Atlanta Braves are an American professional baseball team based in the Atlanta metropolitan area. The Braves compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the National League (baseball), National League (NL) National League Eas ...

selected Kubitza in the third round of the

2011 Major League Baseball Draft The 2011 Major League Baseball draft was held from June 6 through June 8, 2011, from Studio 42 of the MLB Network in Secaucus, New Jersey. The Pittsburgh Pirates selected Gerrit Cole out of the University of California, Los Angeles, with the firs ...

. He signed with the Braves and made his professional debut that season with the Danville Braves. Kubitza played 2012 with the Rome Braves, 2013 with the Lynchburg Hillcats and 2014 with the

Mississippi Braves The Mississippi Braves, or M-Braves as they were referred to locally, were a Minor League Baseball team based in Pearl, Mississippi, a suburb of Jackson, from 2005 to 2024. They were the Double-A affiliate of the Atlanta Braves and competed in ...

. The Braves added Kubitza to the team's

40-man roster A Major League Baseball roster is a list of players who are allowed, by league agreement, to play for a Major League Baseball (MLB) team. Each MLB team maintains two rosters: an active roster of players eligible to participate in an MLB game, an ...

on November 19, 2014.

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim

On January 8, 2015, the Braves traded Kubitza and Nate Hyatt to the

Los Angeles Angels of Anaheim The Los Angeles Angels are an American professional baseball team based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The Angels compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West Division. Since 1966, the team has pl ...

in exchange for Ricardo Sánchez. He started the season with the Triple-A

Salt Lake Bees The Salt Lake Bees are a Minor League Baseball (MiLB) team that plays in the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and are the Triple-A affiliate of the Los Angeles Angels. Based in South Jordan, Utah, the team plays its home games at The Ballpark at Am ...

. The Angels promoted Kubitza to the major leagues on June 10, 2015. He made his major league debut that day in place of David Freese, who had been injured. Kubitza was optioned to the minors on June 28, having hit .214 in eleven games for the Angels. Freese was placed on the disabled list on July 23, clearing a roster spot for Kubitza's return. Five days later, Kubitza was sent to Salt Lake as the Angels sought to promote a backup outfielder to replace

Mike Trout Michael Nelson Trout (born August 7, 1991) is an American professional baseball outfielder for the Los Angeles Angels of Major League Baseball (MLB). Trout is an 11-time Major League Baseball All-Star Game, All-Star, three-time American League (A ...

. Kubitza began to play other positions during this minor league stint, and was recalled on September 8.

Texas Rangers

On June 21, 2016, Kubitza was traded to the Texas Rangers for cash considerations after being

designated for assignment Designated for assignment (DFA) is a contractual term used in Major League Baseball (MLB). A player who is designated for assignment is immediately removed from the team's 40-man roster, after which the team must, within seven days, return the pla ...

on June 13, 2016.

Atlanta Braves (second stint)

On August 12, 2016, Kubitza was claimed off waivers by the

. On September 2, he was removed from the

and sent outright to the Triple–A Gwinnett Braves. Kubitza returned to Gwinnett in 2017, playing in 92 games and hitting .241/.333/.346 with 5 home runs and 25 RBI. He elected free agency following the season on November 6, 2017.

Sugar Land Skeeters

Kubitza signed with the

Sugar Land Skeeters The Sugar Land Space Cowboys are a Minor League Baseball team of the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Triple-A (baseball), Triple-A affiliate of the Houston Astros Major League Baseball club. They are located in Sugar Land, Texas, part of the G ...

of the independent

Atlantic League of Professional Baseball The Atlantic League of Professional Baseball (ALPB) is a professional independent baseball league in the United States. It is an official MLB Partner League based in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States, and the headquarters are l ...

in early 2018. Kubitza announced his retirement on July 3, 2018.

Personal life

His brother, Austin Kubitza, played

Minor League Baseball Minor League Baseball (MiLB) is a professional baseball organization below Major League Baseball (MLB), constituted of teams affiliated with MLB clubs. It was founded on September 5, 1901, in response to the growing dominance of the National Le ...

in the

Detroit Tigers The Detroit Tigers are an American professional baseball team based in Detroit. The Tigers compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League Central, Central Division. One of the AL's eight chart ...

and

Seattle Mariners The Seattle Mariners are an American professional baseball team based in Seattle. The Mariners compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) American League West, West Division. The team joined the American ...

organizations as well as independent baseball.

References

External links

Texas State Bobcats bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Kubitza, Kyle 1990 births Living people Baseball players from Arlington, Texas Colleyville Heritage High School alumni Danville Braves players Gwinnett Braves players Los Angeles Angels players Lynchburg Hillcats players Major League Baseball third basemen Mississippi Braves players Rome Braves players Round Rock Express players Salt Lake Bees players Scottsdale Scorpions players Sugar Land Skeeters players Texas State Bobcats baseball players Tigres del Licey players American expatriate baseball players in the Dominican Republic